Like a good sherbert, Gandhi quotes can clear our hearts and minds after partaking of a few rich diaries. And, like a cold shower, can still the raging passions of the heart.
Here are some of his many wise quotes. I hope they help mellow you all out a bit as well as inspire you to continue to Fight the Good Fight!
Gandhi pointed out three possible responses to oppression and injustice.
One he described as the coward's way: to accept the wrong or run away from it.
The second option was to stand and fight by force of arms. Gandhi said this was better than acceptance or running away.
But the third way, he said, was best of all and required the most courage to stand and fight solely by non-violent means.
Gandhi said that the non-violent activist, like any soldier, had to be ready to die for the cause. The difference was that the non-violent activist, while willing to die, was never willing to kill.
http://www.mkgandhi.org/...
What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.
If co-operation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.
I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God's creation, woman, the object of our lust.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
http://www.brainyquote.com/...
OK, and I will share my two cents on today's Towel Toss firestorm.
Isn't this the purpose of dKos and others like FDL? To serve others? To bravely share, for no gain, what is in our hearts and minds? To hopefully make a difference, raise important questions, share our research/knowledge, and create a collective of like-hearted people who can't quietly abide the suffering of others within and without the community of America?
If dialogue is inspired and/or prompted, hasn't that diary served it's purpose even if we don't agree with the diarist?
Isn't it the dialogue itself, perhaps more than the actual diary, that helps each of us tidy up the tangled threads of thought rummaging through our sometimes stressed out brain?
Thought provoking diaries are the best, in my opinion, whether or not I agree with the diarist. I applaud the courage it takes to invite a controversial dialogue.
Perhaps what is most disconcerting some on the controversial diary written by Pluto was the huge number of fellow kossacks that Rec'd it. Pluto obviously hit a nerve, although I doubt the recommenders are all clamoring to throw in the towel and bail.
The psychic jolt of Pluto's cogent, less than sanguine sentiments regarding today's America are both perplexing and ponderful (my new word).
I believe that much of the platform of the Democratic Party is stated in Pluto's conditions for country of choice to live in.
Aren't we all emblazoned with our vision of a more just society that cares for "the least of these"? Isn't this why we are here and what we fight for?
So, I thank Pluto for sharing his/her Towel Toss. For what I sensed most strongly is Pluto's sadness, which is what anger tries so hard to hide.
Pluto's diary intensified my desire to continue the fight for what is fair and just, more courageous to stand up to the Corporaticians, and a deeper sadness for those who suffer in our country today.
What will it take to remove what should be government sponsored social services like healthcare away from the Corporatists? To insure a man a wage capable of supporting his family? A good public education for all children? Public safety? Alternatives for poor children besides dead end jobs, crime, and/or the military? Or a transition from the Military Industrial Complex to an Environmental/Infrastructure Industrial Complex?
It will take us!
We will win if we are as willing to sacrifice for the common good in the same way that Martin Luther King, Gandhi, the Kennedy brothers, Rosa Parks, and the highschool children who risked their lives to march by the angry mob to attend an all white school back in the 1960s. Many of us were too young to join in these battles. We are not battle worn or battle tried. But many here were.
We have this courage! We flagrantly speak out here knowing full well that there is no such thing as anonymous anymore.
Now, if we could just find some battle-tried leaders to follow in the non-violent protests needed.
Anyone?